My first seat check event as a certified tech!

I worked my first seat check event today as a certified tech. I met a young woman (19 years old) who was the youngest person to ever be certified as a tech in the U.S. (at least that is what I was told). Apparently she became a certified tech when she was 12!! She said that there is a minimum age now but there wasn't back then. Her father is a Phoenix Police officer and an instructor and apparently she used to go with him all the time when he taught cert classes and he finally just made her get certified! What I thought was really funny was that she said she was in a booster seat until she was 9 years old and then she became a certified tech 3 years later!

The event was held at the Children's Museum of Phoenix. We ended up doing 42 seats today with about 12 techs and volunteers. I wanted to jump right in there so I could get as many as possible signed off so I'd get them out of the way when it is time for me to re-certify! I got 4 of the 5 signed off. I didn't get any boosters, which is the last sign off I need.

Misuse I saw today: two FF Britax seats that had the LATCH connectors backwards (never were switched from RF) and one of the Britax seats not using the tether; loose harness straps on child; loose seatbelt install. That was about it. We got 3 sets of expectant parents that wanted to learn how to install their infant seat. I was also happy to see that the woman who bought my TF Recline the other day came for the seat check. I was going to help her with the install a few days ago, but it was too dark by the time she came to meet me.

I also saw a seat I'd never seen before: a Safeguard Go. That was an interesting one.

All in all it was a nice event. I met some other techs I hadn't met before and everyone was really nice. The time went by really fast and I was so happy that when at the end of this event, my feet and back weren't killing me like last time. I popped two Advil before I left the house this morning! Maybe that helped!

Sounds like you had a great experience!! :thumbsup:

Thank you for sharing. I can't wait till one day when I can take the CPST course, just to learn and apply it at checks as a volunteer, help family, etc.

I like hearing what misuse you saw, diff carseat etc. Please post more updates as you do more checks-I'd like to hear more people's experiences as they start out! Were you nervous? If you aren't sure about something, do you just ask the other techs?

I was a little nervous, but the police officer/instructor paired me up with his daughter Nicole (the one who was certified at age 12!) and she was super nice. It helped because she was already familiar with how the checks are run. When we did run into something we couldn't figure out or had questions, we asked a more senior tech/instructor. For instance, the woman who had the Safeguard Go for her 5.5 year old didn't have it in tight enough. Neither Nicole or I could get it tight enough either. We called Nicole's dad over and he was able to.

I think what would really help for new techs is to have a checklist handy so you don't forget to do things. For example, if they came in with their kids to make sure you look to see how they were strapped in before taking them out. Or to remember to make sure the tether was being used on a FF installation. For example, the MA that came in, I immediately noticed the after market seat protector and that the LATCH connectors hadn't been switched to FF mode, and was busy explaining that to the mother that I didn't notice that she didn't use the tether! (another tech did though!). It makes it a little overwhelming at times to hope you remembered everything. I do plan to make up a checklist just for my own use next time.

This particular seat check event was nice because we weren't constantly busy. We had time in between vehicles to chat! I guess there is another event that is much larger that is sponsored by one of the local TV stations that is just huge and runs all day with about eight bays to do seat checks and one of the instructors said that you are so busy doing one car after another that five hours will have gone by before you know it!

I will definitely post about any future seat checks where I have interesting information to share!

I saw two properly installed car seats today, at our clinic. Weird.

LOL Judi, it is weird to see properly installed seats!!

Almost every Britax convertible I've seen at an event has the lower anchors backwards still; it's the first thing I look for when I see one now!

I love that the tech you worked with was certified at age 12! That's really cool; my oldest (16) has helped me out at events before and thinks it's very interesting and fun. I'd love to see him get certified once he's old enough.

Glad you had such a great first experience. :thumbsup: